Quarantined
by hideousbeauty
Summary: A new disease has broken out across Lima- and what appears to be the rest of the world now. When Quinn tests positive and her life hangs in the balance, she and Rachel escape together and find themselves living in hiding together in what is fast becoming an apocalyptic world.
1. Chapter 1

"What if I told you right now that everything could change in this instant? That everything could change, and we could go back to the way things had been? We... We never would have run into each other that day; we never would have had to escape together. We wouldn't be here. But they all would be. What would you say to that? Would you take it? Would you take that over this?" I felt tears welling over the edges of my eyes but somehow managed to hold it together long enough to finish speaking. My breathing was hot, heavy. My mouth was dry. It felt as though all f my strength was being used to speak and to somehow continue standing in front of her without wavering at either action. I felt my knees go weak and yet somehow they locked themselves into place, and I stood as firm as I possibly could. I knew I'd lose her after this. But... I couldn't just pretend that this wasn't killing me. Not anymore.

She then wrapped her arms like a noose around my neck and kissed the top of my head. "Honestly?" Her voice was low, raspy. I knew she needed a drink just as badly as I did. I knew we were risking so much to stop and do this. What I didn't know is why she'd given up protesting and why she was humoring me now long enough to even touch me, let alone answer me. I breathed her in. She smelled of sweat and dust and dirt. She smelled of death.

That year had started like any other year. Competitions were coming up as the new year began and the school year came closer to an end. We had all be frantically discussing the song list for this year, and no one seemed to agree. Some of the ideologies were split as far as priorities were concerned. A lot of the senior class was agreeing to focus on that aspect, their graduation, not their final competition. Some of the other members were focused on personal lives. There were couples joining together and claiming that whatever the other one wanted is what mattered on both ends. So, of course, we weren't getting anywhere. And why we were left alone at that time to discuss among ourselves a decision that should have been finalized and sorted by a faculty member was unclear to me then. And frustrating.

I had the perfect plan for the set list. I always did. But I was supposedly meant to let others and their ideas shine at least a small amount. Something about "teamwork"- a trait that I might have spent more time in now. Well, obviously no one there knew how to work as a team, and we were going nowhere fast as far as what we were actually supposed to be doing was concerned. But... Now, looking back, that all seems so minor to me now. It had been a year since the first death at this point. And no one seemed to even remember it happening. It was so freak, so sudden... Perhaps it shocked everyone too much to want to have to deal with it in such a small town. And now we were alone because Ms. Pillsbury had come down with something out of nowhere. And the only ones who seemed to remember anything about the death before and the similarities now were myself, Quinn Fabray- whom I found sitting over a stack of books in the library one afternoon, and Mr. Schuester- hence his absence now. But, of course, you chalk that up to worrying too much and jumping to conclusions, right? Right.

Either way, at the time, it didn't seem like we could do anything. And so, there I was, standing in a chair in front of everyone in the choir room trying to be heard over the dull roar of all the mixed voices, when the intercom chimed in and a voice we'd never heard before came over the speakers. "William McKinley High School students and staff, please remain calm and in your classrooms until further instruction. There is no need for panic, but we must inform you that a serious matter has come to your school. Again, please remain in your classrooms until further knowledge." And then the tents started to be put up. And students and staff were being escorted one room at a time into the gymnasium and into those white tents where something was happening that no one else knew about.

Some people left the tents and went to the right. And every now and again, someone exited and headed to the left. No one was allowed to tell us what was happening. And when eventually more and more people were herded to the left, the tents began taking us two at a time as if to hurry through whatever was happening. No one ever saw those taken to the left come back in. The ones to the right were given gray scrubs and a number and told to go to the cafeteria for dinner. Nothing else was being explained. So when she and I were taken into a tent together, and a long, thin needle was forced into each of our forearms... When a green light flashed on the machine connected to her and a red light flashed on mine... When they began shouting and herding her to the left with all of the others that had disappeared, and she looked to me frantically... We had no idea what we were so afraid of. Not really. But one look into her eyes, and I knew we both knew. So I reached out, and before anyone in the tents dressed in their disgustingly green scrubs knew what was happening- before I knew what was happening- I took off with her in tow.

And we hid. I'm still not sure how we managed to get away. Adrenaline kicked in; fear took over. Maybe the frantic moving to the cafeteria and those who were protesting- and being beaten down quite literally- was enough of a distraction for us to slip through. Either way, we barely made it out of the school building and managed to make it to the abandoned house hidden in the forest behind the school's football field that others used to smoke and do all sorts of illegal in- which I only knew about because of trying to find Quinn and her "Skank" friends. And we hid. There were sirens and people rushing by, looking everywhere. But people had long since forgotten about this place. When I realized I still had her hand, I tried to let go- a small blush I'd never admit to creeping along my cheeks. But she held fast. She didn't look over at me, but I could see the tear rolling down her cheek. I could still see the fear in her eyes. She was infected. And from where we hid, we watched as our entire town was quarantined.

* * *

**I'm very sorry for the first upload of this chapter looking like a complete wall of text. It wouldn't let me upload the file that I'd wrote this on, so I was simply copying and pasting. I suppose that it didn't end up as well as I'd hoped. Hopefully this fixes it, and if any of the other chapters upload like that, I promise to do my very best to fix them. Thank you!**


	2. Chapter 2

Perhaps a little back story is in order.

My name is Rachel Barbara Berry, and this was supposed to be my last year at McKinley High School. I was supposed to be moving to New York later this year to pursue my dreams of being a Broadway star. That's what I was. A star. Is that what I am? ...who knows anymore? I'd like to believe that I still am. But I haven't sang in... I suppose that's getting a little too present for a back story. Maybe I should just speak of someone else for once.

Quinn Fabray. She used to be head of the cheerleader. She was prom queen our junior year, and she hated everything about me. After a bunch of things happened in her life- all of which I do not know about- she came back to school with a nose ring, a pack of cigarettes, a tattoo, and pink hair. I used to think all of these things were clearly against school policy, but it was Quinn. I'm sure that if there was a heaven, Quinn would be allowed to walk right in, the gates left open for her. It was like she walked on a different level than the rest of us. She always had. I think she used to know it too, but... We all thought that she'd sort her life out and that this "Skank" phase would pass by rather quickly, but it never did. I think she started to hate me a little less, but... Maybe that was wishful thinking of a sort.

It'd been three days since we'd gotten away to the old, abandoned house covered in vines and riddled with who knows what sorts of bugs or snakes. From the view we had, we watched people search for us and appear to give up around the surrounding area. Maybe they thought we'd made it off campus and had turned their searching around town. They had to know that two teenage girls couldn't have gotten very far on foot. We watched as the school was emptied out in the distance. And we watched as countless people we'd grown up with- even though we couldn't see specific faces from here- were being brought to the football field and... forced to their knees to be shot. Right in front of us. Quinn kept me from yelling out, but I don't see how she managed to stay so silent.

We knew nothing else of the outside world right then. There was no radio or power, and our phones had long since died. I knew that I was getting antsy sitting here, not knowing anything outside our tiny shelter, but Quinn stayed quiet. Every time I spoke of leaving, she dismissed me with a look, not saying anything about it, and stayed quiet again. The only words we really exchanged in this time were sparse and unrelated, quick "Are you okay?"s and short nods for answers. Other than that, we stayed huddled down and not even close to each other a good bit of the time, never venturing outside of the living room in case the structure was unstable somewhere else. But it had been three days now.

"Quinn," I whispered as the sun went down on the third day, earning me a look over from hollowed out, hazel eyes. I'd been noticing that she'd started shaking and becoming paler. "We should go find food..." I looked down at my hands on the molded rug of the floor and took a deep breath. "I know," I started before she could. "We're safe here. I know, I know, but..."

"You're right." Her voice was quiet, rasp. She looked back out the window she never seemed to look away from and sighed quietly. "I know. I've been thinking of a way that we could manage." She looked back over at me and tried for a tiny smile. "It's getting dark. Let's just go now."

"Are you sure...?" She'd been so reluctant to even speak to me this entire time. Perhaps she was starting to act differently because of the lack of food or being anywhere else with anyone else for so long. But as I licked my lips and turned my face towards where she was looking before, I nodded with as much of a smile as I could manage. "Let's do it then. But first, we need a plan."

"Our own houses would be too obvious," She was the one too look down this time, making a fist as I saw her eyes fall to them. I was delighted that she wanted to leave now. Not for the food or for the chance to go out and see how much had changed since these three days, but... I was so sure that she would have given up already. The way she'd been acting lately... I was just glad to see that she wasn't quitting.

And so our adventure began. There was no way we could prepare anything. We had nothing; we had no idea what to even be prepared for. And so we just left. We weren't even sure where we were headed. But at this point, anywhere was better than here. And we knew we wouldn't last if it were to rain as it was. But... where was there to go at this point?

She'd mentioned not going back to our parents' because it being obvious, but I had to wonder if some of it was due in part to her parents obviously not going to be able to handle knowing that their daughter had fled from a quarantined area because she was found out to be infected. ...but thinking on this called my own sanity into question. Why was I travelling with her? Risking my life like this for an infected person? ...The only answers I had was that it was Quinn and that there just had to be a cure. There had to be.

And if we had to travel across America to find it, we were going to find this cure.


	3. Chapter 3

Silence was a must most of the time these days. Any sort of sound could attract so many things that we couldn't afford to let find us. When talking was an absolute must, it was shortened, whispered words in haste. The only other form of communication was hand signals. But most of the time, especially recently, there was no contact between us at all even though we were never more than a few feet away from each other. Every now and again, I found her crawling over to me in the dark of night, grabbing me gently and pulling me close. It was the only contact we ever made anymore, and I didn't dare bring it up or question it. We needed the touch for warmth on the colder nights anyway, but even on the warmer ones, I simply let my body collapse into hers. I knew she was using me to even remember human touch, but... Maybe I was using her as well. It was so hard to tell anymore.

It'd be coming up on five months soon. Or was it six? I don't think there was any way to tell anymore. Any sort of radio or television communications had long since stopped, and if we ever heard anything other than static from the little radio we'd found once awhile ago, it was the same emergency broadcast that had started about two weeks after the quarantine had spread over a good half the nation. Everyone was encouraged to visit the government official tents to be tested- though by this time everyone had been diagnosed one way or the other. People who were marked clear of infection were urged to join other refugees at the designated "safe houses" in major cities scattered across the nation.

Of course, most died on their way to these destinations.

As it turns out, those who were infected slowly started... turning. Into what, I can't explained. It was something I could only imagine coming straight out of those horror movies the boys at school used to watch. People started turning paler and losing all senses and human actions. Their bodies began to move slower, and I'd heard that all brain functions began to cease after a fever broke out in them. All of their thoughts were gone, and the only thing they focused on after that point was the most basic of human instincts- the need to feed.

What did they eat? ...flesh, I suppose. I wouldn't say brains. They seem to just eat the entire body- bones and all. Maybe it was just anything with a pulse that they felt some need to devour the entire thing. It was literally like being in a horror movie. I couldn't ever wrap my mind around that this was actually happening. But... How can you argue with something that was happening right in front of you?

Quinn tried to leave me after the news started spreading that this was happening. She tried to leave me quite a few times. I would just silently follow after her; both of us knowing that she couldn't afford to be yelling at me for too long. She kept asking me why I would want to stay with her, but I never really gave her an answer. I wasn't sure if I really had one that would make sense to her. Right now, she was still Quinn. Right now she was all I had left. Right now she was who I wanted to be with. If things got worse down the line, I would deal with it then.

Apparently they discovered that the infection was spread in two ways. Spores that, if inhaled, directly attacked the brain, and being bitten by or swapping any sort of bodily fluids with someone who had been infected. Where it came from still no one knew. Or maybe just no one would want to own up to being the cause for the deaths of so many. Little else was ever discovered about it, and there was certainly no cure. Everyone was just trying to survive a little longer in a dying world.

At one point, communications were tried between America and the other countries, but after receiving no reply, we all just assumed we were all who was left. We were all alone in this, and so many had already been lost during just the prevention stages. Quinn would get angry that no one warned us about it coming over, but using energy on being upset over what's too late now only seemed like a waste. Not that I could blame her. I was angry too.

How long it took for the infection to take full effect was also a mystery to us. I don't know if any other information was gathered on this, and I'd read once that it only took a few days usually. But Quinn was still Quinn five months later.

"Do you ever think the test that showed you positive was a false read?" I heard my voice before I'd even processed that I was speaking. Almost immediately there was a hand over my mouth and a hiss in my ear.

"Shut up. You know you can't speak aloud while we're not in a shelter." I did know. I did. This was stupid to risk our lives over while we were out trying to find food and some sort of weapons, but... I'd been meditating on it a lot lately, and I just...

"I know," I whispered after pulling her hand away softly. It was the first time in a good while that I'd looked into her hazeled eyes. They'd lost some color now, and her sockets seemed sunken in more now. Due to lack of sleep, I'm sure. Or maybe... No. "But... What if it was a false positive, Quinn? It's been months now, and you're..."

"I've thought about it," she turned her gaze from mine. "I mean, of course I have. I thought I'd be dead by now or a mindless freak at least. But does it really matter? At this point? We aren't going to make it, Rachel. We aren't. Whether I become a zombie, or whatever those things are, or we're found by either side, or even just run out of food... We aren't going to make it. Not too much longer anyway."

And then it was back to not speaking. I'd lost all will to argue with her. I felt so helpless at this point, just hanging my head and trailing her footsteps. She'd taken over, somehow. Somehow being strong enough for the both of us. I don't see how she ever did it. But I'd just... shut down. And even knowing that, I couldn't ever find it in myself to do anything about it.


	4. Chapter 4

_Baby, baby, baby...  
Come with me instead._

At one point in our journey to... wherever we were headed, we found ourselves entering an old bar somewhere a few towns over. It was a rundown, must, old place, and it smelled worse inside then it did out. The windows were completely boarded, and with no one working for electricity anymore, what had been left was probably gone now considering the walls were lined with candles. At one end, there stood a man behind a bar cleaning a glass with a rag. And between him and us entering the front door stood people of all sorts- most of them men and most of them a little rough looking. To the right of us... an older woman on a stage, singing along to nothing.

Apparently they knew they were secure or else the noise would have attracted unwanted attention. Security meant two things- a temporary place to rest and an unnerving questioning of just how long it would last. But for the time being, we simply needed to rest.

Quinn pushed her way in, past groups and stragglers of the men around us, leading me a lot more gently by the hand than the stance she took to make it past everyone. I kept my head low and my my mouth shut- just as I was told. But I couldn't help my eyes from wandering over to the stage. It almost seemed to call to me, a feeling I hadn't had in such a long time. It made me almost sadder than anything else that had happened to us up until this point. Qunn must have sensed it too, because that's when her pulling got a little rougher.

I stood right beside her, one of my hand clenching her top almost like a child would, as she sweet talked her way into the bartender's heart and into us some free drinks. I wasn't normally one for alcohol, but when I saw the sweat off the glass hit the wooden counter top and my dry tongue failed to moisten my lips yet another time, I quickly gulped down the brownish liquid inside. It tasted bitter and burnt as it when down, but soon my glass was being refilled. As I brought the glass to my lips again, I felt Quinn's hand over the lip, a small shake of her head coming as my eyes peered over.

"You haven't drank anything in awhile, and you haven't eaten much today either. You don't want to make yourself sick." And then she was sitting on a stool in front of her own glass, sighing and looking down into her drink.

I nodded gratefully, sitting beside her on a stool that creaked as I added my weight to it. Looking over at her, I breathed my first real sigh of relief since that day. For now, at least, we were safe.

And that was when we heard the gunshots. We knew it couldn't last.

_Baby, baby, baby..._

Quinn grabbed my arm just as I swallowed the last of my drink, not wanting to waste any of the cool liquid, and she began dragging me towards the back of the building. Grabbing old, green blankets off of a couch we found back there, she threw them over us- my small frame and then hers. "Stay quiet, Rachel." She pulled my blanket up like a hood soon after I'd nodded. And with the sounds of shouts behind us, another gunshot so close it made my ears ring a bit, we slipped out through a back door that we got lucky on being there. Right as we left, I could have sworn I heard someone ask about harboring any infected...

_Come with me instead.  
__Baby, baby baby.  
__You can't because you're dead.._


End file.
